When the polls closed Tuesday evening, Minnesota's Secretary of State's office showed that Norm Coleman had a 725-vote win in his closely contested race against Al Franken. By the next morning, however, Coleman's victory was already shrinking. As various precincts and county auditors have "corrected" their totals, Coleman's lead has dropped to a mere 237 votes. Minnesota Republicans are concerned that the fix may be in.

An example of the kind of thing now going on was reported in today's Minneapolis Star Tribune:

Just as Secretary of State Mark Ritchie was explaining to reporters the recount process in one of the narrowest elections in Minnesota history, an aide rushed in with news: Pine County's Partridge Township had revised its vote total upward -- another 100 votes for Democratic candidate Al Franken, putting him within .011 percentage points of Republican U.S. Sen. Norm Coleman.

The reason for the change? Exhausted county officials had accidentally entered 24 for Franken instead of 124 when the county's final votes were tallied at 5:25 Wednesday morning.

Currently, the Minnesota Secretary of State's office shows the Franken's total in Partridge Township as 129, not 124. Still, the Partridge story is the most coherent explanation we've gotten so far as to why vote totals have repeatedly been adjusted to Franken's advantage.

Optical scan ballots are used nearly everywhere in Minnesota. The system is simple: once the polls close, absentee ballots are run through the machines with Republican and Democratic poll watchers both present. The machines are then locked down. The machine prints a tape that looks like a grocery store printout that summarizes the number of votes cast for each candidate in each race. At the same time, the totals are uploaded electronically, via a secure phone line connected to the box, to the county where the precinct is located; from there, they are reported to the Secretary of State. The tape showing the precinct's vote totals is signed by the precinct's election judge and is required to be publicly displayed.

There is essentially no human input here. There is no room for new ballots to be "discovered," or for counting "errors" to be corrected. The process is electronic. My understanding had been that optical scan voting is in use in every one of Minnesota's several thousand precincts. Based on the Strib's account of what happened in Partridge Township, it appears this may not be the case.

Some very basic questions need to be answered. What are the precincts that have allegedly "corrected" the vote totals they originally reported? On what basis were the alleged corrections made? Did both Republicans and Democrats participate in the alleged corrections? Have the original paper ballots been securely maintained since the polls closed? What assurances are in place to prevent Democrats from fraudulently adding new paper ballots? Do the precincts that have revised their vote totals use the optical scan system that is, as I understand it, nearly universal? If not, why not? If so, what do the ballot machines' tapes show? If the totals now being claimed are inconsistent with the tapes that were signed by the precinct's election judges, on what basis can they be accepted? Why is it that each "correction" seems to favor Franken?

The Coleman campaign has reportedly dispatched volunteers to try to guard the security of ballots in some locations. The danger, of course, is that they could already be too late. Minnesota's Secretary of State, a left-wing activist who was elected in 2006 after MoveOn.org and other nationwide groups targeted the Minnesota Secretary of State race, has yet to certify vote totals. If fraud is to be committed, it most likely has taken place already, or will occur before the recount begins.

UPDATE: Hot off the press, the first apparent evidence of fraud. Last night at around 7:30, a precinct in Mountain Iron, St. Louis County, mysteriously updated its vote total to add 100 new votes--all 100 for Barack Obama and Al Franken.

Mountain Iron uses optical scanning, so the Coleman campaign asked for a copy of the tape documenting the ballots cast on election night. St. Louis County responded by providing a tape that includes the newly-added 100 votes, and is dated November 2--the Sunday before the election. St. Louis County reportedly denies being able to produce the genuine tape from election night, even though Minnesota law, as I understand it, requires that tape to be signed by the election judges and publicly displayed.

Maybe there is some legitimate explanation for these events, but I haven't thought of one yet. More to come.

Minnesota is a cold commie enclave. The fix is in. The failed comedian will be the junior senator. The biggest joke is on all the doofasses that voted for him and on all those who didn’t bother to go out and vote against him.

FURTHER UPDATE: The Minneapolis Star Tribune has this explanation: Reporter Mark Brunswick has talked to election officials for Mt. Iron and the county, and here's what they say: The precinct officials called in the correct results on Election Night: 506 for Franken, 211 for Coleman. But the county incorrectly wrote down 406 for Franken, 211 for Coleman. And that's what was reported to the Minnesota Secretary of State's office. Wednesday night, the Secretary of State website showed a 100-vote increase for Franken in Mt. Iron, Pct. 1. The Coleman camp's Cullen Sheehan says the timestamp on the ballot machine's vote total reads: "11/02/2008″ That's two days before the Nov. 4 election. A county official told Brunswick that the machine's clock must be incorrect. When they tested a machine in Mt. Iron Pct. 2 in late October, running test ballots through to make sure the machine was working properly, it also showed an incorrect date on the printout. And the printout from that Pct. 2 machine in Mt. Iron on Election Night, when it printed out the final vote tallies that remain unchanged, also shows an incorrect timestamp of Oct. 31. Several of these assertions are subject to verification. One thing I don't understand is why local officials called the results in to St. Louis County, which then wrote them down by hand. Precinct 1 in Mountain Iron, according to the Minnesota Secretary of State's web site, uses an optical scanner. So the results should have been uploaded electronically to St. Louis County. Is there some reason why that system was not functioning? So far, I've seen no explanation. Also, the tape that was printed off the optical scanner after the polls closed on November 4 should have been signed by the election judges, both a Republican and a Democrat. Did this happen? Obviously, the tape that was given to the Coleman campaign wasn't signed. But somewhere there should be a Republican election judge who can shed light on what happened.

6
posted on 11/07/2008 2:54:45 PM PST
by astyanax
(If you need to wear a mask while speaking your mind, it is probably best you remain silent...)

Well in Florida in 2000, a large number of outraged Republicans stormed the offices of the vote counters. I don’t remember if it was Dade County or West Palm or somewhere else. But it was beautiful to watch.

Why is everyone surprised by this? ACORN did it successfully in 2004 in the Washington State gubernatorial race (Gregoire-Rossi), and they just did it here in Oregon in the US Senate Race (Merkley-Smith). They're getting better at it every time they successfully pull it off.

Needless to say, it's only going to get worse and more blatant, now that they're going to have an advocate in the White House :-(

Here’s one thing I’ve wondered about: surely it should be possible to review the pattern of changes or “corrections” after the original vote totals were submitted and study them in comparison with the party affiliation of the officials involved etc.

It should not be the case that all of the “corrections” are favoring one candidate, right? If numerous precincts have “corrections” that all favor the Demagogue candidate then that should be a prima facie indication that something suspicious is going on....

11
posted on 11/07/2008 3:00:38 PM PST
by Enchante
(Sarah Palin is Worth Infinitely More to Us than Any Vicious RINO Anonymous Staffers)

To have this nitwit making decisions about our troops, economy and the hundreds of things the Senate votes on is just plain scary. In a way, the fact that he almost won, just about says it all for this election.

This has already happened before. Thune Vs. Johnson in 2002. We went to bed and our guy is up significantly, then a boatload of votes show up from Indian country and Johnson wins. Funny how it’s always lib votes that show up the next day somehow.

What is the republican party doing to assist this seat holder against this obvious election theft? Nothing? Seems typical of this gutless party. How the hell is it that every mistake and new found vote aides franken’s total, but not a single vote for Coleman? I mean WTF, what a ****ing farce. Welcome to the end of the United States.

St. Louis County responded by providing a tape that includes the newly-added 100 votes, and is dated November 2--the Sunday before the election. St. Louis County reportedly denies being able to produce the genuine tape from election night, even though Minnesota law, as I understand it, requires that tape to be signed by the election judges and publicly displayed.

I was a poll watcher, and we have in Alabama what I assume are the same machines (or very similar).

1) The machines are plugged in 30 minutes to one hour before the polls open.

2) The ballot container is opened and verified to be empty.

3) The ballot counter on front of the machine is verified to read zero.

4) A tape (similar to a cash register tape) is run which shows all vote counts for all seats and all other issues to be zero.

5) The tape is checked and verified. This tape is not to be torn or detached from the machine until the final tabulation at the end of the day.

6) The voting occurs during the day.

7) Voting is closed.

8) The precinct inspector locks the machine and pushes a button which runs the final vote tabulation at the end of the day. It is printed on the same tape that was used to record the zero count earlier in the day before the polls opened. In other words, the beginning zero count, all overvotes and undervotes during the day, as well as the final tally are all shown on the same UNBROKEN tape. This tape is selaed in an envelope and becomes the official record.

9) This official record is also reported in the cartridge - which I assume is a non-volatile memory similar to a flash memory card.

10) Other tapes showing the results are printed out and sent to various officials and posted on the door of the polling place. Our precinct ran a total of 5 additional tapes.

It should be easy for lawyers - if they know the system - to create and trace a good paper trail. For example, it the zero portion of the tape is not attached to the final tally, something is rotten.

This assumes the GOP lawyers are not bullied or steamrolled.

23
posted on 11/07/2008 3:16:37 PM PST
by WayneM
(Two things are infinite: the universe and human stupidity; and I'm not sure about the the universe.)

Democrats have a plan on how to cheat. First, they cheated by illegal votes. They didn't have enough so now they have to ask for recounts until they can destroy some more Coleman votes and manufacture Freaken votes.

They know what they're doing and they ALWAYS win the close ones. Note they will be 100% by the time this is done.

A RAT lawyer even tells how they do it. http://www.google.com/search?sourceid=navclient&aq=t&ie=UTF-8&rlz=1T4DKUS_enUS289US289&q=How+Democrats+steal+elections

Republicans need to stop whining and just do what the left wants them to do.

After all, nothing gets republicans to the polls any more. The voter turnout suggests a lot of republicans stayed home and allowed boy wonder to take the helm.

I wonder at what point do conswrvatives and republicans finally get angry and in the faces of leftist’s?

Let’s see whay is going on:

Kindergarden children are being taught HOW to make the choice to become homosexual.

No big deal, no protests. What hear are those who say things like, “we don’t do protests”. Okay I hear you, but they are turning you into slaves, using your tax dollars to fund ACORN and other anti-conservative BS.

Can Coleman challenge this? Since it is obvious that they are scrounging for votes for Franken, that should be grounds for an investigation. It might be different if both candidates “found” votes but this is blatent!

A tape (similar to a cash register tape) is run which shows all vote counts for all seats and all other issues to be zero.

Unfortunately, if Minnesota is using the Accuvote machines, due to the idiocy of some software engineers who developed the firmware in those machines, it is possible for the tape to show zero counts when the actual counts are non-zero. And its possible for the printout on the tape to not accurately reflect the ballot count at the end of the election either.

The memory cards need to be very carefully examined - and until then preserved under seal as evidence.

Got a call from the Coleman recount fund and donated. They are keeping visual contact with the ballots in all precincts until the lawyers get in town. Pretty sure the actual count is now over - Coleman by 236 and the recount will likely start in December.

For those that followed the thread election night, it was in fact the St. Louis (Buhl precinct) and Pine counties (deep blue) that had the discrepancies. There was one count of 24 that was a ‘typo’ and changed to “124”. My guess someone added the “1”. Sigh....

Contract out our elections to third world countries. Their elections are more honest then ours

I know you are kidding. I recall an election in Thailand in 1994. My BIL was "mayor" of a quiet village in the far north. One morning as he was leaving the house, he stuck a roll of 100 bht bills (Thai money) in one of his jacket pockets and a .38 revolver in the other. He said, "Some people need a little more than a bribe for their vote." He won reelection handily as did his boss, the district Kamnan.

We may be going that direction here. Chicago may have been there for many years.

The first count is almost always the correct (or most correct count). Even if vote counts were indeed changing, they should change up or down proportionally for each candidate. In these cases, they seen to be change for only Frankin; in counties that appear to be Democrat counties where there should have been no initial errors. There is no plausable reason they would have written 27 rather than 127. They would have double checked. Coleman needs to hire lawyers not poll watchers. With this much discrepancy, they need to do an entire do over. Then hire poll watchers to descend on each of the various precincts.

46
posted on 11/07/2008 4:41:35 PM PST
by Tucson
(I'd prefer you just say thank you; or pick up a piece and walk a post)

As with the Governors race in the state of Washington a few years back, recounts will continue until Franken has enough to win.

Yep.

The only time I saw the Republicans fight with everything they had was in 2000 when they refused to let the scumbag rats steal the presidency. I don't remember any other time the GOP didn't fold like a cheap suit as an election was stolen right out from under them.

Amazing, isn't it, how recounts always result in the rats "finding" enough votes to win?

Through the Constitutional provisions, but the protections and enforcement of which will be left to those who benefit from the fruad.

Regretably, it also seems that the only path to regaining the great vision our Founding Fathers bestowed upon this magnificent land will be by the same method they were required to employ. Just as in their day, some majority of the citizenry will not be willing to sacrifice all that it might take to accomplish that worthy task and the burden will be borne by the brave few.

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